Garden Talk

Spring "Veggie Starts" Sale

2010-04-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Purchase Organic Starts for Your Spring Coastal Garden!

Planning a spring vegetable garden? Looking for organic starts? We feature crops that grow well on the coast all spring and summer, including green beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, squash, pumpkins, chard, beets and more!

WHEN: Three Saturdays
April 24 [Earth Day], May 1, and May 8
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

WHERE: Pacifica Gardens behind the Linda Mar Education Center 830 Rosita Road, Pacifica, CA

For more info please contact Loretta O'Brien at (650) 296-9502, or visit www.pacifica-gardens.org

We grew a ton of food last year!

2010-02-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

... literally...the harvest sheets have all been tallied and we harvested over 2200 pounds of food in 2009!

ADA/Senior Beds

2009-08-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

In June we were visited by a fabulously enthusiastic and helpful youth organization from Atlanta, who built three beds specially designed to accommodate seniors, people with disabilities, and really just about anyone who would rather stand or sit comfortably while gardening. I harvested some greens today from one of the beds and let me tell you-- my back was very grateful.

In addition to constructing the boxes and filling them with soil they also planted loads of vegetables. They did a fabulous job!

To project was recently featured in the Pacifica Tribune- to read more about it click here.

An enormous thanks to them for traveling such a long way to help out! What a great addition to the garden.

School Day at the Gardens

2009-07-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

On May 28th a 4th grade class from Ortega Elementary School came to the garden and spent all morning learning about growing food! We taught them about composting with food scraps and worms, the use of nitrogen in plant growth, how to plant seeds and raise them into mature plants, and how to know when a crop is ready to be harvested.

The kids got to do do what they do best: ask loads of questions and get their hands dirty!

They were all very curious to see what their food looks like when it's in "plant" form in the ground, and we teachers had tons of fun exploring with them and answering all their wonderfully insightful questions. The curious young minds often times led us out into the garden to touch, feel, smell, and taste the plants in the garden. We were impressed to see how many plants they could identify and how much they knew about what plants need for growth.
At the end of the day we all ate a yummy salad made with fresh greens, peas, and other produce from the garden.

We were told that because of budget concerns the school was forced to cut the life science portion of the 4th grade curriculum, so we were happy to be able assist with some hands-on experiential learning. I think it was truly a fun and educational day for everyone involved. We look forward to having more schools visit the garden in the fall!

Never too late to talk about Earth Day!

2009-07-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

As promised... an extraordinarily brief recap of our Earth Day activities:
Loads of people came out to the garden to spend the day partaking in and learning about various gardening activities. Master Composters Cas Lesiak and Joe Lees were here leading demos, and many folks were interested in learning how to compost in their own gardens. Vermicomposting (with worm bins) seemed to be of particular interest.
Our own masterful gardening queen, Loretta, led a group of youngsters in planting sun flowers, which was also a hit! More photos and tales of the gardens coming soon!

Native Plant Propagating Day

2009-06-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we planted an assortment of adorable natives (they're so little!) and it was a great success! We made potting soil and potted up over 300 native plants, including 150 Coyote Brush, 39 Sticky Monkey Flowers, 105 Iris Longipetala, and 29 Mock Heather.

They'll be kept in the shade for a couple weeks while they take root in their new soil, then we'll transfer them to a sunny place where they'll continue to grow throughout the summer and fall.

All will be available for purchase at our native plant sale later in the year!

An Over-do Garden Update!

2009-06-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung! Actually, it sprang rather suddenly and jubilantly many weeks ago, and now we're up to our eyeballs in chard, quinoa, strawberries, and loads of other goodies! We've been so busy cultivating and caring for the garden, in fact, that we abandoned our blogging duties entirely...
we hope you'll forgive us and accept this very condensed list of what what's been sprouting all winter long as our way of making it up to you.

• Planted 14 additional fruit trees in our already-existing mini-orchard of six apple trees.

• Planted 500 square feet of blueberries!

• Expanded our school education program to include field trips in Spring and Fall (more to come on how the spring classes went!)

• Held events for Earth Day and "Turn off the TV" week.

• Created food-donations partnerships with Pacifica Resource Center and St. Edmunds’ Church (and Food Harvest).

• Began a Teen Community Service program.

• Had a visit from St Bartholomew's Church, YAC group, from Atlanta Georgia, who helped build, fill and plant the ADA/Senior beds.

• Held a Seed Saving Workshop.

• Made our first donation to the Resource Center! 37 heads of lettuce, 6 lbs of kale, 3.5 lbs of collards, plus parsley and cilantro.

• Sheet mulched a 500 foot area adjacent to the mini orchard as a demonstration method for soil enrichment and weed control.

What in the world does it mean to sheet mulch? Visit again soon for information and details! We'll be working to fill you in on our Earth Day activities, the "Gardens by the Sea" tour, and more!

Happy Gardening~

Harvest passes 500 Lbs

2008-10-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

Today the total produce harvested in the garden passed 500 lbs and there's more to come before we "put the garden to bed" for the winter. Great job everybody!

Gophers in bed 12

2008-09-04T15:17:00.001-07:00

Cas found evidence that gophers have found bed 12.

Potatoes

2008-09-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

I was at the garden earlier this afternoon (Loretta and I stopped by to water the salad mix direct sown seeds in Bed 6) and also noticed flowers on the potatoes...more specifically, the Desiree potatoes.

In my own backyard experiments I have tried a dozen or so potato varieties and Desiree has consistently out-yielded the others (well, Rose Finn and All Blue are also high yielders). I typically get yields of 2.5 - 4 lbs per Desiree plant versus 1 - 2.5 lbs for the other kinds (Yukon gold, etc.).

So it's very interesting for me to see the Desiree plants about twice as big as the yukon gold plants that are in the same bed, as well as the other potato plants in the other beds. And that the Desriee's are also flowering first. When we harvest it will be interesting to watch the yields.

Luckily, the Desiree is a tasy variety and easy to grow. Ronnigers catalog describes it as:

The most popular “red” potato in Europe. Round to oblong tubers, satin-like pinkish/red skin and gourmet quality creamy-yellow flesh. Prolific yields of excellent all-around cooking potatoes. Very resistant to common diseases. An easy and very reliable gourmet potato to grow.

Cleared Failed Crops

2008-09-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

Per Loretta's instructions from the Saturday workday, went by the garden this morning (Wed) and removed the insect eaten purple bush beans in the west fence/sunflower bed. Got 14 oz of edible beans from the plants. Also removed most of the failed pumpkin vines in the north fence /sunflower bed. I left 3 plants as they had viable fruit on them.
Potatoes are starting to flower.
Ann

Fava Harvest

2008-09-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

The last of the favas got harvested today.
25.5 lbs today... a total of 49.25 lbs from bed 9

First Section of Herb/Natives Mandala planted!

2008-09-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend (Saturday), Dina and friends planted the first section M1, of the Mandala with medicinal herbs. After lots of digging and cover cropping, it's finally starting to take form.

Salad Mix for Fundraiser Planted Today

2008-08-31T20:31:00.000-07:00

This evening Loretta and I planted salad mix in Bed 6 (72 sq ft) intended to be harvested for the fundraiser dinner. If all goes well we'll have endive, lettuce dalla rosa (sp?), green and red lettuce mix, beet greens, and chard (to be harvested as baby chard) by Oct 18! The entire bed is covered in agribon so be sure to keep it wet until things germinate. Arugula will be planted in another bed in a week or two since it matures faster, and also some baby spinach.

Emily harvests Kentucky Wonders

2008-08-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

Emily (2 years old) has come to the garden a number of times to help out on work-day Saturdays. Last Saturday she helped pull out cover crops for composting and harvested 4 oz of Kentucky Wonder beans. Thanks Emily.

Harvest 8-30-2008

2008-08-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

Loretta says she harvested 1/2 lb of corn from Bed 1, and 10 heads of lettuce from Bed 12. And Emily (2 years old) harvested 4oz of Kentucky Wonder beans from Bed 10. (not recorded in the Data).

Insects in bed 10 favas

2008-08-28T14:38:00.001-07:00

Ann left a note in the "closet" indicating bugs have infested the favas in bed 10.

Big harvest today

2008-08-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

11.5 lbs of favas plus zuchs, kale, beans and chard from C-1, and beets, beans and chard from bed 2.

Garden Data

2008-08-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

The garden data page on the web site now contains real numbers that will update as we harvest.

Carrots planted in bed 6

2008-08-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

Elmer double dug and planted 25 sq' of carrots on Saturday

Sod-wall composting

2008-08-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Alan dug into the first section of the wall and found rich beautiful compost. It's working. Congratulations to Loretta for inventing a great way to use sod and create a fertile planting space.

9 composters completed

2008-08-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

There are now 9 working composters in the composting area!

To-Do list for Sat 8/23/08

2008-08-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

- Work on construction of composters
- Remove cover crop from bed 6 and add to partial compost pile
- Build new sections of "the wall" with green waste from FoodTown
- Prep beds C-11 and C-12 for cover crop seeding
- Continue flatting seed for fall planting